ARG/JOR – Argentina stays undefeated by winning over Jordan

KAYSERI (2010 FIBA World Championship) – It seemed to be an easy game by the time it started, but Argentina had to play harder than expected to beat Jordan 88-79 to close day four of competition in Group A of the FIBA World Championship.

Argentina clearly dominated the first quarter, led by Luis Scola who scored 15 points as they won 35-19. Carlos Delfino also helped the South Americans with 12 points.

The Jordanians were down but not out, as they changed their defense to zone to not allow any liberties to Luis Scola who only scored 2 points in the second quarter and finished down 49-37. Jordan made a 7-0 run in the final two minutes to end down by twelve.

In the third quarter Jordan opened up their offense from long distance led by Ayman Idais and Rasheim Wright. A three pointer by Idais closed the game 55-49 but baskets by Luis Cequeira and Juan Gutierrez gave Argentina a 61-55 third quarter lead.

Then in the final quarter Jordan tried to spark another rally but Argentina was led by Scola and Delfino who did their best to put the Jordanians away.

Luis Scola reached the 30 point mark once again, making 9 in the final quarter. Carlos Delfino added 18 and Paolo Quinteros 11.

Now Argentina has a 4-0 record finishes the preliminary round against Serbia for first place at 19:00 on Thursday. Jordan is 0-4 and ends the preliminary round against Germany at 21:30.

Quotes:

Sergio Hernandez (Head Coach, Argentina): They forced us with zone defense. We couldn’t make shots; they got rebounds and so made fast breaks. They were good in pick and rolls. We tried our best.

Mario Palma (Head Coach, Jordan): We turned to zone in defense and put in a good fight. We made fast breaks, pick and rolls and shots. We kept the game close. But I don’t want to talk about any excuse, if you play with Argentina, even they go behind or forward during the game, in the end they win.

FIBA

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